Africa: political stability and country leadership key to water and sanitation progress

Political stability has heavily influenced progress in improving access to water supply and sanitation services with low-income stable countries outperforming low-income fragile and resource-rich countries.  ”This breaks with the common perception that access to sanitation and water increases with GDP”, says Senior Financial Specialist Dominick de Waal, lead author of a new report [1] by the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program (WSP).

The report, commissioned by the African Ministers Council on Water (AMCOW),  maps progress  in water supply and sanitation of 32 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. WSP carried out the country studies together with the African Development Bank in close partnership with UNICEF, WHO, and the 32 governments.

Madagascar: first national Global Sanitation Fund programme launched

The Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) launched its first national Global Sanitation Fund programme on 22 March 2010, World Water Day, in Madagascar. Approximately US$ 5 million will be disbursed over the next five years to sub-grantees – community groups, non-governmental organisations, etc. – to implement projects and programmes that raise awareness and create demand locally for sanitation. The Global Sanitation Fund (GSF) will not be used directly or indirectly to fund or subsidise toilet construction schemes.

The WSSCC has recently appointed the international non-governmental organisation Medical Care Development International (MCDI) as the “executing agency” for the GSF in Madagascar.

Scope of work in Madagascar: hygiene education, demand creation and awareness-raising

In Madagascar, the GSF supports work programmes that concentrate on hygiene education, awareness raising and demand creation. In doing so, it aims to:

• Increase significantly the number of families, particularly the poorest, who have sustainable access to basic sanitation and adopt good hygiene practices,
• Engage institutional and private actors for the long term in promoting basic sanitation that is sustainable, affordable and culturally appropriate, and
• Spread proven and innovative approaches to sanitation and hygiene at a large scale.

The WSSCC established the GSF to boost expenditure on sanitation and hygiene in developing countries. On average, nationally run programmes will each receive US$ 1 million per year from the fund. The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) hosts WSSCC, and the GSF is formally a United Nations Trust Fund. The Governments of Australia, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom have contributed to the GSF.

Madagascar is the first of seven countries selected for the first round of funding in 2010; the others are Burkina Faso, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Senegal and Uganda.

Read more about the GSF programme in Madagascar.

Source: WSSCC, 22 Mar 2010

Angola: water service provision for the peri-urban poor

One of the important challenges of post-war reconstruction is to provide more and better quality basic services, such as water. Previous attempts at upgrading main supply systems to accommodate peri-urban areas have been overwhelmed by the explosive demographic growth of Angola’s major cities brought about by many years of civil war.

A new paper by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) documents strategies developed by the informal private sector and local communities themselves to meet the demand for water services that the Angolan Government has been unable to provide.

The paper demonstrates that local communities’ own engagement in the management of water distribution and their assumption of the responsibility for maintenance and the payment of service fees is a sustainable and affordable model. The paper also points out that building on the successes of existing locally driven initiatives, can bring national and international water targets closer to realisation and that local innovations not only improve water provision, but do so in a manner that involves and responds to the urban poor more than conventional water projects do.

Drawing on a literature review and the experience of Development Workshop in supporting peri-urban water services in Luanda, the paper provides lessons and recommendations for partnerships, financing and cost recovery, mapping tools, and scaling-up.

Water committee members at a standpost. Photo: DW (photo 7 from IIED publication, p. 42)

[1] Cain, A. and Mulenga, M. (2009) Water service provision for the peri-urban poor in post-conflict Angola. (Human settlements working paper series. Water ; 8). London, UK, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). 56 p. ; 10 fig., 8 photos, 15 tab. ISBN 978-1-84369-754-1

Download full publication

Africa: Water for People announces investment from Case Foundation to scale-up innovative rural water service models

Expanded effort to be based on social entrepreneurship, local involvement to provide multiple, sustainable water solutions.

Water For People has announced a transformative investment from the Case Foundation to accelerate and expand its efforts to provide innovative, sustainable water solutions in Africa. This investment will be used to expand Water For People’s programs, using local entrepreneurs to provide sustainable operations and maintenance support for a portfolio of community water solutions in Malawi, Rwanda, and Uganda.

Water For People’s expansion efforts will be focused first in Malawi, then in Rwanda and Uganda, to stimulate and scale up innovative models using the local private sector’s capacity to provide on-going operation, maintenance and repair services for an array of community water technologies. This will include an expansion of Water For People’s successful “circuit rider” program, where communities hire local entrepreneurs for effective operations and maintenance services that enhance water source sustainability.

As part of these efforts, PlayPumps International – U.S. will be contributing its inventory of manufactured pumps to Water For People. The combined, new resources total roughly $2M of funds, assets, and in-kind support, complementing almost $2M of direct funding from Water For People’s program base in Africa.

Water For People will use the resources to accelerate and expand its programs around the following core elements:

Engagement of the private sector. A key goal of the program is to unleash the power of the local private sector as a resource for community development. Initially focused on Water For People’s existing program in Malawi, and then expanding to Rwanda, Uganda and elsewhere over time, Water For People will offer proven entrepreneurial approaches, training and capacity building of local private sector partners to service a market for the ongoing operation, maintenance, and repair of community water systems. The program will also demonstrate ways that the local private sector can play a key role in eradicating water poverty.

Deployment of safe water system technologies coupled with innovative operation and maintenance approaches. Rural villages will be offered a portfolio of safe water system technologies (e.g. hand pumps, rope pumps, PlayPumps, etc.) in order to “road test” opportunities for scale. Private sector approaches for operation and maintenance of these systems a key element of sustainability will also be implemented. The emphasis will be on proven models, such as the use of local, independent contractors, or “circuit riders,” to service water infrastructure and ensure sustainable supply chains.

Long-Term Monitoring. Water For People is incorporating its long-term, 10-year community monitoring initiative into this program, utilizing the World Water Corps® volunteer program. World Water Corps® volunteers will offer professional and technical support including mapping, baseline data for development, capacity building for local stakeholders, and monitoring and evaluation of past and current projects.

Source: Water For People, 27 Oct 2009

Kenya: scaling-up school hygiene and sanitation

After implementing the Personal Hygiene and Sanitation Education (PHASE) programme in rural Kenyan communities, AMREF has now started a project in the urban ‘slum’ settlement of Kibera, in Nairobi.

With support from GlaxoSmithKline, AMREF works with local communities to implement PHASE, promoting good hygiene, sanitation and water practices. It does this through primary school children, because they are seen as an effective way to educate their peers, families and communities.

The project has reached 74,000 children (plus their siblings, parents and teachers) in 247 rural primary schools across Kenya, and aims to reach a further 10,000 urban school children in Kibera. Activities include hygiene and sanitation training for pupils, teachers, parents and government officials; providing water and sanitation facilities in schools; producing hygiene and sanitation learning materials; and developing a handbook to replicate PHASE activities in all schools.

The Ministry of Education has now incorporated PHASE into the national school curriculum and has rolled out the PHASE model in all schools in Kenya (excluding Kibera). It is also being replicated by AMREF in Uganda and through other partners in Zambia, Nicaragua, Peru, Bolivia, Mexico, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Tajikistan.

Source: Amref, 2008